Pagitt Article

I found a fascinating article by Doug Pagitt and the response of the Republican National Convention to the nomination of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate. He has some great questions for the religious right and their stance on women in leadership versus their support of the Republican ticket. He attended the RNC and interviewed many delegates on the floor. Here is a portion of the article.

The most surprising response for me was to the role of a woman as vice-president and as it related to the worldview of religious conservatives. I asked questions about how people who hold that women should not be in spiritual leadership over men (a view called "complementarian") would respond to having a woman vice-president and potentially president). If you are not familiar with the line of thinking, it goes something like this:

Men and women are created in a relational order. Men are under God and women are under men. This is not to say that women are lesser than men, but just as tools are designed for specific purposes so is gender a guide to relational order. The Bible is used to support this view specifically passages like Genesis 2:7, 21-24; 1 Timothy 2:12-15; 1 Corinthians 11:8-9; Genesis 2; 1 Corinthians 11:8-10; Romans 5:12-19.

This is not a totally fringe view. It is supported by the Southern Baptist Convention, the Presbyterian Church in America, and many independent churches. It is perhaps the most common perspective among the evangelical religious right.

There is an additional line of thinking that this vice-presidential nomination raises. It comes from reading Hebrews 13:17 and 1 Peter 2:13-14 in the same way as the above passages are read: "Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account." "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right."

Many religious conservatives have used these verses to make the argument that God places our leaders over us, and to obey them is to obey God. For that leader to be a woman would mean that men would have a woman over them as a leader. This is a problem.

Many who hold to the complementarian view would say there is a difference between church leadership and governmental leadership. But this poses a problem for those who want to suggest that the president is God's appointed leader.

I raised some form of this question with the delegates I interviewed. I asked, "Do you think it will be a problem for religious conservatives who hold that women should not have authority over men and who do not allow a woman to be a pastor of a church or teach a Sunday school class with men in it? Will they have a problem with a woman vice-president?"

To a person the response was Yes, I am sure they will. But they will just need to get over it.

I was fascinated to think that this nomination could actually weaken the complementary view or the view of the president being God's chosen leader because of the commitment to support the pro-life ticket. It will be quite a dilemma for some religious conservatives who will have to choose between commitments. And there is no doubt that the support for Governor Palin rests squarely on her pro-life stance.

Comments

[Patrick]

An interesting take. I wonder how she ever got elected PTA president with this biblical viewpoint? PTA is ruthless :)

[Abby]

Wouldn't that be great if this dynamic forces people to rethink their understanding of authority! God at work in all circumstances?

Or, will the dualism kick in...we can obey in one circumstance because the VP really doesn't do anything anyway and McCain would stil be in charge and we still don't have to obey in a church setting.

[AEL]

Thanks for the article, Barry. I have been wondering why mainstream media have left this angle completely alone. To me it was an obvious immediate contridiction.

I wonder what the official position of the Assemblies of God is on women in leadership since Pailn used to be Assemblies?

[Lori]

Good read as my muscles won't relax enough to sleep tonight. Maybe I'll have fairy tail dreams thinking of Princess Palin as I try to reenter slumberland.

[Meredith]

This is a fascinating article. I grew up in a PCA church and heard guidance on gender roles consistently reinforced through sermons, Sunday School, and youth group. This issue, among others, ultimately drove me away from the denomination and towards a more tolerant form of worship.

Reaction among the religious right to Sarah Palin reveals an important contradiction- but it also shows that even people with narrow ideological views live in a world of tradeoffs and are sometimes forced to compromise. In effect, they are prioritizing their values.

A colleague sent me a link to a blog post from a reluctant Palin supporter struggling with this dilemna - interesting but scary stuff. http://brandondutcher.blogspot.com/2008/09/braked-alaska.html

[Chris]

Spooky Barry - Running into very similar concepts at seminary. We're steeped in Phyllis Trible and the Genesis creation accounts. Just finished a paper critiquing Trible's article "Eve and Adam: Genesis 2-3 Reread"